Posted on 10/25/2023 8:34:56 AM PDT by CFW
I have solar panels from Mission Solar (made in Texas). Total 64 panels all of them either 320W or 330W (total over 20kW). And I have LifePo4 batteries from Signature Solar (unfortunately they are made in China), 18 of them each holding 5.1kWh storage (total 92kWh storage). Since I don't let them drain more than 70%, call it 64kWh of usable storage. Battery storage IMHO has gotten way cheaper per kWh since I got mine. Bonus points if you get a combination of inverters and batteries that allow a network cable to talk to each other (so that your inverters know exactly how much charge you have left in your batteries). They don't have to be the same brand name to do so. But research if they honor the same CAN bus protocol.
I didn't DIY. I learned enough about each of the three main components to realize which solar contractors were scamming me and hired the one that didn't try to scam me. I let him pick the amount of each component to meet my needs (for Phase 1 I wanted it to supply at least 50% of my power) and told him I was willing to spend extra to have most of the large components made in the U.S. He was the one who picked mostly what I had figured I needed without going overboard so I figured he wasn't scamming me. I certainly didn't get into the details of wiring and interconnects, etc.
Thanks, useful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.